David Hill (International Choral Director & Organist) - return to Welcome
Organ Recitals Nationwide
Programme
JS Bach (1685-1750) - Fantasia super: "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott" (BWV 651)
Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) - "Passacaglia in D"
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) - "Three Impromptus"
Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
"Cantabile" (from Symphony No 2)
"Toccata in B flat" (from Pieces de Fantasie Suite No 2)
Florence Price (1887-1953) - "In Quiet Mood"
Franz Liszt (1811-86) - "Fantasy & Fugue" on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam"
Biography
David Hill has held positions as organist of Westminster Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral and St John’s College, Cambridge. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists when he was 17 whilst studying at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester where his organ teachers were Jonathan Bielby and Derrick Cantrell. He spent 4 years as organ student at St John’s, Cambridge under Dr George Guest whilst continuing his studies with Dame Gillian Weir. He is a past President of the Incorporated Association of Organists and from 2022-24 was President of the Royal College of Organists.
Away from the organ world, he enjoys a busy life as a freelance musician recognised by appointments as Musical Director of The Bach Choir, London, Music Director of the Leeds Philharmonic Society, Associate Guest Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and from 2013-24 he was Professor and Principal Conductor of Schola Cantorum, Yale University. He was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from 2007-17. He is a regular contributor to the publication Choir and Organ.
He has recorded all the orchestral and choral works of Howells. Howells, a lifelong fascination for Hill and notably associated with St John’s, arguably wrote more secular choral music than he did sacred. Hill, and his professional choir IKON, have recorded a selection of Howell’s secular choral music, most of which has never been recorded previously and which been released on the Hyperion label.
In the summer of 2023 he recorded Howells’ complete Psalm Preludes and Master Tallis’s Testament on the organ of Durham Cathedral which was released on Regent Records. Another organ CD, Passacaglia, was recorded on Peterborough Cathedral organ, also on the Regent label.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Southampton University and, in 2019, an MBE for his services to music, is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, a recipient of the Royal College of Organists medal and most recently in March 2025 received the Choral Director’s Lifetime Achievement award from the Musicians’ Company.
He was acting Director of Music at King’s College for the 2026 summer term.